Although many projects in the state are in
limbo, this is the first major pullout after Tata Motors’s decision to move out
of West Bengal in October 2008. What may have precipitated into the move was
Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s
“dissatisfaction”. Banerjee had claimed on Tuesday that “nothing has happened”
at Haldia, when asked about the abduction of three HBT officials. She labelled
it a conspiracy of a section of the media and the Communist Part of India
(Marxist).

The company’s counsel today informed the
Calcutta High Court that the company would terminate its operations in Haldia.
ABG has also written to the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), seeking termination of
its 10-year contract with the port.

CAUGHT
IN RED TAPEOther projects that have been
terminated or are yet to be completed

Projects

Rs cr

Projects
stuck

JSW Steel Ltd's
Salboni plant

35,000

Videocon Steel plant

22,000

Bhushan Steel project

20,000

Jai Balaji Steel project

16,000

Kulpi Port project

2,600

NTPC Katwa project

1,
800

Infosys and Wipro

1,500

Projects
scrapped

Haripur Nuclear project

700,000

PCPIR Nayachar

96,000

Singur Tata Nano

2,000

Source:
RBI

The move would put 350 jobs in jeopardy. The
company will also approach the court seeking compensation for the losses that
it suffered at Haldia, including the amount it paid for security. Tata Motors
had also asked for compensation from the state government for its losses at Singur.

The immediate trigger was the abduction of three
HBT officials — Manpreet Jolly, Jagadish Behara and Bushan Patil, including his
wife and one-year-old daughter — at gunpoint last Sunday by an unidentified
mob, allegedly backed by the TMC. Although they were later released, the
officials were told “not to come back to Haldia”. This happened even after the
firm paid more than Rs 17 lakh for the deployment of police personnel towards
restoration of peace, based on a Calcutta High Court order.

“The safety and security of our employees is of
paramount importance and above business interests. We have to inform you that
we have been left with no option, but to walk out from Haldia Dock Complex
(HDC) with immediate effect. We cannot work in an environment where the
authorities responsible for ensuring the law and order and success of the
project have openly renounced and abandoned their responsibilities,” said
Gurpreet Malhi, chief executive officer, HBT.

Responding to this, a senior port official said
on condition of anonymity: “If the state government cannot give protection,
what can the port do?”

According to Malhi, HBT has made an accumulated
loss of Rs 60 crore from Haldia operations, and that it has so far invested Rs
150 crore since inception.

KoPT was getting a net gain of Rs 150 per tonne
vis-a-vis only Rs 25 per tonne from other berths. Therefore, suspension of
HBT’s operations will imply an immediate revenue decrease of 75 per cent on dry
bulk amounting to Rs 90 crore a year for HDC.

Last year, Haldia Dock handled 17 mt of dry bulk
cargo, which is already down by two mt this year.

Trouble started since September, when HBT
decided to suspend its operations from September 8, seeking more cargo from
KoPT. However, following a court direction, it had to reach an agreement with
the port.

According to the agreement, all vessels carrying
dry bulk cargo arriving at HDC will be allocated to HBT berths No. 2 and 8, and
if these berths are engaged, vessels will be allocated to other berths.

Things took a violent turn once the firm stopped
operations on September 24 citing political unrest and retrenched 275 people on
grounds of an oversized payroll of 650 and loss in operations.

There was resistance from the TMC-backed INTTUC,
which said that it will not allow the firm to resume work, unless the
retrenched workers were taken back.

“We were instrumental in revival of the Haldia
Dock through the mechanisation of berths, which has resulted in a more than
three-fold increase in productivity to more than 20,000 tonnes per day/per
berth. Now, we regret our decision to go to Haldia. The economy of West Bengal
has once again been denied the opportunity of growth, modernisation and
development,” said Malhi.